Safari 3.0

aegisdesign · February 7, 2007 7:59AM

http://webkit.org/blog/?p=93

The WebKit team have closed off development on WebKit and are just accepting bug fixes into the code now. Safari 3.0 (and therefore Leopard) just around the corner?

(No, not next Tuesday

)

quillz · February 8, 2007 3:10AM

I think Safari 3 will be done long before Leopard. Some of the new features in it, like tab reordering, are long overdue, in my opinion.

mikef · February 8, 2007 11:14AM

I'm not sure how the Safari dev team works, but you're probably right about it being for Leopard. Depending on the Safari QA team size, it could be weeks (or maybe even a couple of months) before testing is complete for the new release (3.0).

feynman · February 8, 2007 5:52PM

I dunno how it works for the development of Mac OS X now but when I worked at Apple during the development of Mac OS 10.0 (Cheetah) they had one deadline for all teams to halt their beta builds by, after that they would go to the FC (Final Candidate) status and then on to GM (Golden Master) a couple weeks later.

If Apple are aiming to release Mac OS 10.5 Leopard on March 24 for the five year anniversary then they will have to push for FC in a matter of a couple weeks. With that said, this could be accurate.

feynman · February 9, 2007 2:45PM

New report by ThinkSecret suggests Mac OS 10.5 to be released next month.

http://thinksecret.com/news/0702leopardilife.html

ai51240 · February 9, 2007 3:01PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quillz

I think Safari 3 will be done long before Leopard. Some of the new features in it, like tab reordering, are long overdue, in my opinion.

From your fingertips to God's ears. Safari is following the Internet Explorer style of version updates -- waiting for major OS releases to include not only new features, but important bug fixes as well. The Flash implementation in Safari has been broken since day 1 -- it's been fixed in the WebKit nightly builds for months, but they won't release it because they're waiting on Leopard. It's ridiculous. I don't fault Apple for keeping big new features saved for OS updates, but there's no reason anyone should have to shell out the cash for Leopard just to get bug fixes.

Firefox had the same Flash implementation problem I mentioned above -- it was rolled into a point release within days after it was fixed in the codebase. As a full-time Safari user myself, I really wish Apple would be more forthcoming with updates to the browser.

mikef · February 9, 2007 3:13PM

Seems like the end of March is a very possible release date for Safari 3.0, and ultimately Leopard... I can't wait!

I agree that Safari should be updated much more regularly, especially not only when a new version of the OS is released. One shouldn't have to pay for bug fixes.

ss3 gokoux · February 9, 2007 3:14PM

Apple will likely update Safari with for Tiger users once Leopard is out. I recall Apple releasing a new version of WebKit for Panther users when Tiger came out. The Panther version didn't have RSS feeds or any of the other newness in Safari, but it did get a new version of WebKit.

I don't mind the wait for new features, but waiting for the bug fixes that have been in WebKit nightlies forever now is killing me.

ai51240, what Flash implementation problem are you referring to? A quick Google search is only showing me issues from 2003-2005 that have probably been fixed by now. I'm just curious because I'm working on a site design with several Flash elements...

ai51240 · February 9, 2007 3:43PM

This Google search should give you a pretty good idea of the problem. Fortunately, I no longer have to design sites that include dropdowns OR flash, so I am not so concerned about it on a daily basis as I once was.

You can still see the bug in all its glory at adobe.com -- watch the dropdown menus go to shit when you hover over the part of them that overlaps the Flash movie. Now try it again with a WebKit nightly build, or Firefox. It's a really irritating problem.

ss3 gokoux · February 9, 2007 4:43PM

I see... well, good thing I'm not using any dropdowns! I'm just waiting for a WebKit fix for (*gasp!*) frames to migrate into a Safari update.

japple · February 13, 2007 11:55PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ai51240

Safari is following the Internet Explorer style of version updates -- waiting for major OS releases to include not only new features, but important bug fixes as well.

This strikes me as a stupid move by Apple... How are 3rd parties supposed to support Apples already small Safari market share when they have to test different versions? Talk about splitting up a small pie even smaller.

arnel · February 14, 2007 12:25AM

The point releases usually contain updated versions of WebKit... However, the last one (10.4.8) was back in September last year, which explains why bugs that were fixed months ago haven't made it out in official form yet.

It looks like 10.4.9 is just around the corner, so hopefully that'll contain the fix for the Flash bug.

Safari 3.0

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